So forgive me for not posting in a while after my initial post about this project. I was waiting for the films to release and the art of book as well before sharing any images here. My main reason for showing them is to share my process and use of Sub D on this project to speed up the process and allow for more creative exploration in short time frame . I will start by posting a few images and welcome questions. I will post images as needed pertaining to specific questions about the process should there be any interest.
If you have seen the films and have a strong opinion about them (good or bad) I do ask that you refrain from sharing them here. This is about Rhino, SubD , the process and how what I did can either help, encourage or enlighten anyone to how the tools can be used.
The first images I will share are regarding what I started with. There were 3 people involved directly in the development and design of this vehicle. The concept artist , myself and one other set designer. Of course there was an army of people that made this happen and they deserve as much of the credit as any of us but in regards to the design aspects there were 3 to start.
Phase one: Concept
Based on notes from the director the concept illustrator did a rough massing of the vehicle to establish a look and feel. Once that was approved it was then handed off to myself to develop it further to be refined for fabrication and production needs purposes. This model was originally created in Maya I believe as sub d and mesh components. Not optimized for fabrication. Also many aspects were far from developed and required more in depth work.
Converting the concept to workable model:
Once I got the concept model I started by using Rhinos sub d tools to convert the meshes and start the process of clean up so I could transition it into a workable model . This went through many phases to further refine and respond to director notes.
Over the course of 4 months the forms were refined , proportions adjusted for size and volume requirements , landing gear development and crew cabin requirements.
For example here you can see the landing gear being worked out for deployment. We did not make them work practically but it still had to be worked out for visual effects.
Cabin spacing and flight deck requirements had to all fit within the physical exterior practically. Additionally a second interior was built for sound stage shots.
All modeling was done in Rhino 7. Some construction drawings were provided for purposes of meetings but the actual build was done by an outside vendor who worked directly from the Rhino files I provided. The flight deck and engines were designed and refined by a fellow set designer and Rhino user (you know who you are and again thank you , thank you , thank you. I could not have done it without you)
This is the final model as delivered.
And the fabrication in progress:
And the finished vehicle on set:
Fabrication of the full size vehicle consisted of steel sub frame with carbon fiber shell. Many components such as landing gear and details were 3d printed all from the provided Rhino files.
In the end the result was quite a site to see in person measuring in at just over 50’ in length and 21’ high.
In conclusion I just want to say thank you to everyone at McNeel for their hard work , dedication and help over the years. This project was a success in no small part due to what Rhino allowed me to do. Yes other software are capable clearly and thats not really my point here. I want to demonstrate to new and old users just what you can do with Rhino . The Sub D tools were a life saver on this project and several others as well . I look forward to further development with these tools and I’m excited to continue pushing the software to its limits within the confines of my limits of course. I also want to thank the Concept Illustrator and fellow set designer who worked with me on this. I could not have done this with out them. For privacy reasons I wont mention any names but they know who they are.
Thanks for taking a look. If you have any questions please fire away and again I ask you please lets just stick to the process and Rhino questions . If you have opinions about the films please put those in the META thread so we don’t bog this down with endless griping or praise for the films.
Cheers
scott